Velocipede.



Patented Oct. 3, I899.

I J. M. H. vznoun.

VELOOIPEDE.

(Application filed Nov. 22, 1898.)

(l lo Modai.)

Inventor.

I ya. ixturd...

IT'ED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES MALCOLM HAMILTON VENOUR, or LONDON,- ENGLAND.

VVELOCIPEDE."

srncrrrcnirron forming part of Letters Patent no. 634,043, time October e, 1899,

" V ILTONVENOUR, cycle-manufacturer,a subject of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, residing at 149 New Kent road, London, Eng- 7 land, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yelocipedes, (for which I have applied for a patent in Great Britain, No. 21,667, dated October 14,-1898,) of which the following is a specification. 1 My invention relates'to improvements ,in the construction of the steering-head and the front or steering fork of safety-bicycles, tricycles, motor-driven and other velocipedes, and front-steering road-vehicles, and has for its object to so strengthen the said head and fork as to prevent the breaking of same'when in use and so obviate the many fatal or otherwise serious accidents that have been known to occur from such breakages. o

The cycle industry has exercised much study in endeavoring to find means for strengthenin g thefront fork of such machines, and many devices have been introduced with a view to this end, all of which have been attended with some technical objection-such, for instance, as adding toomuch to the weight'of the vehicle or by enlarging the crown for carrying larger or extra members of the said fork to so extend the width of the said fork as to unduly limit the area or are through which the same was allowed to oscillate in steering the machine; but according to my invention 1am enabled to materiallystrengthr to any appreciable extentpr decreasing the en the said fork without increasing its weight area through which the steering-wheel may oscillate.

In order that my said 'invention may be fully understood, reference is hereinafter made to the accompanying drawings, of

. which,

idle of the said wheel. the said plate or plates B and the plate A are of Application filed November 22 1898. Serial No-'69'7,185. (No model.)

which the said steering-wheel of such a fork V v is free to oscillate.

In carrying my invention into effect I prefor to employtwo or. more parallel plates, such as A and B, in the construction of the forkcrown, these being alike in shape and configuration and approximately that shown by thev enlarged views, Figs. 4 and 5, in the lower 0 O, I pass 'a pair of tubes E and E of the same shape in cross-section as the said holes and brazed or otherwise connected to the 1 plate or plates B and the plate A or suitable liners thereon, the said tubes being so formed longitudinally as to be brazed or otherwise connected together at theirlower ends to form the right-hand half of the front or steering fork'and collectively adapted at a to receive and be connected to the right-hand end of the spindle of the steering-wheel in the usual way, and in precisely the same manner a pair of tubes F and F pas'sthroughand are fixed to the holes D and D in the plate or plates B and the plate A and are connected at their lower ends to form the left-hand half of the same fork and collectively adapted at I) to receive and carry the left-hand end of the spin- As previously stated,

approximately the same shape, and I provide in the front of these holes 0 and d, respectively, for the passage of the brake-rod and in the center of the back of A a circular hole, through which passes the lower end of a preferably tubular standard G, brazed or otherwise connected thereto and the plate or the uppermost plate B with or without passing through the latter, and over or partly over the holes G C and D D in the plate or plates B, I mount and fix upon and braze or otherwise connect tothe plate A the lower ends of a pair of tubular pillars H and H, the position of the said tubes being snchas to form the base of an imaginary isosceles triangle, the apex of which is the axial center of the tube G, while the sides are at an angle of sixty degrees or thereabout with the said base. The said tubularpillars H and H are open at their upper. ends for the reception of the handle-bar J, having upon its under surface two lugs or projections K and K, which dip into H and H and are therein secured by setscrews or their equivalents L, the upper ends of H and H being connected together and to the tube G by a tie-plate M or by any other suitable meansby which the rigidity of the upper end of these maybe secured.

The standard G fits within the steering tube 0 of the frame of the inachineP (shown in dotted outline. in Fig' 2) and is secured in position thereon by the means of a split ring or cap R, having lugs R and R brought together by a through-bolt S, the said ring or cap R having connected thereto or formed therewith a shoulder T, which normally rests upon the top of the steering-tube 0 when the said ring or cap is fixed upon the upper end Of (T.

It will therefore be understood that the front or steering fork according to myinvention is composed of four tubes or rods arranged in pairs E E and FF, with the tubes in each pair placed one behind the other, each pair being ultimatelyconnected together at their lower ends and at their upper ends or fork-crown by two or more plates B and the plateA, and by these means each side of the fork is strengthened in the direction in which the breaking strain occurs -namely, fore and aft or in the direction of the arrow .in Fig. 2--in addition to which the steering- H, upon the former of which the oscillation of the steering-wheel is centered, and by reason of such formation of .the steering-head the are through which this is allowed to 05 cillate in the steering of the vehicle is that shown by dotted outline in Fig. 6 or substantially from X to X.

Having now ascertained the nature of my invention, what I claim is- In an improved front or steering fork and head, for the front steering-wheel of velocipedes and other vehicles, the combination of two pairs of tubes or rods E E and F F the members of each pair being placed one behind the other, with each pair joined at their lower ends to a spindle attachment a and b, and connected at their upper ends or crown by plates B and A, the said plates forming guides c and dfor the brake-rod, and arranged to carry tubes H and H and G, so placed rela- JAMES MALCOLM HAMILTON VENOUIQ.

Witnesses HENRY CONRAD HEIDE,

GEORGE THOMAS HYDE. 

